Life on the West Island - A fishy story

And so to the highlight of Life on the West Island’s journey through the south-eastern tip of the West Island - four days spent at the internationally renowned Fish Creek Tea Cosy Festival.

You may not have heard of the delightful small South Gippsland town of Fish Creek, which has less than 1,000 residents but has built a significant profile in arts, crafts and literature. It is only 170km from Melbourne, but from the moment a visitor passes the giant teapot gracing the entry to the town, it is clear that Fish Creek is in a world apart.

Before reaching the tiny street of shops and galleries, you pass a huge wind vane in the shape of a fish (silver on one side, multi-coloured on the other) which twirls incessantly just across the road from the huge stunned mullet atop the Fish Creek Hotel. Then in the heart of town there is a massive teapot, complete with colourful tea cosy, nestled on the old railway station platform which forms part of the 117km long Great Southern Rail Trail riding and walking track.

The rail line from Nyora to Port Welshpool operated as the South Gippsland Railway for over a century before its closure in 1994. Nearly all of the rails have now gone, but the railway embankment has become a popular hiking and cycling trail. It passes through Fish Creek about two thirds of the way from Nyora, and locals have beautified its course through the town with an attractive park with barbecue and picnic facilities and many large and stately trees, currently aglow with autumn leaves. Near the old rail station, the town has created a productive community garden, open to all, with large plantings of herbs, vegetables, fruit trees and berry vines. A little further on, the trail winds through an extensive sculpture garden, where a local carpentry artist has created massive wooden statues and art forms, working from a shop and gallery adjacent to the trail.

Fish Creek has a few regular stores, including a post office, petrol station and a combined newsagency/general store/pharmacy. There is no supermarket or takeaway food shop, but the town and nearby surrounding areas are crammed with fascinating galleries and craft stores, many of which serve coffee and light meals. During the Festival, all had special displays of teapots and tea cosies, most of which were works of art in their own right.

But the main show was at the community hall, where hundreds of magnificent hand-made tea cosies were exhibited at a free 9-day event. They were displayed in categories including Traditional, Exuberant, Celebrities, Whimsy and Children’s. Most involved a huge dose of creativity and handwork talent, and many defied categorisation. For instance, one cosy consisted of a large knitted octopus, complete with all eight tentacles firmly grasping a teapot – but was classified as “traditional.” Celebrities celebrated in other offerings included Frida Kahlo, the British Royal Family and Jimmy Barnes, among many others. All were for sale, with proceeds mainly going to charity and the running of the Festival. One of ours – a modest offering of a black and white Felix the Cat – sold for $20, while some of the more spectacular and ornate cosies went for $250 or more.

Of course, volunteers at the hall were selling scrumptious Devonshire teas with a wide range of tea flavours available. On each day during the week, local artists and craft makers conducted workshops or there were events, including a well-attended local chapter of Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea, which raised over $1,500 for cancer research.

We gravitated to a number of the galleries and creative businesses. Perhaps the best known is the brilliant bookshop, art exhibition and gift extravaganza run by famous children’s author Alison Lester. In 2024, she is celebrating the 30^th anniversary of the publication of Magic Beach, a charming picture book which has enchanted children all around the world, including Alison’s own family. The book is centred on visits to a beach some 30km from Fish Creek at Walkerville South. After consulting the Bureau of Meteorology, we made sure to visit there at low tide on a sparkling autumn afternoon, when we could access the beautiful white sand beach through a narrow passage in the rocky cliffs which is underwater when the tide is in. Another of Alison’s famous picture books is Are we there yet? a saga of a road trip around the West Island with a young family, which has sold millions of copies. Alison’s first drafts and final illustrations are on display at her delightful shop, along with copies of her other 30 books and even a life-sized model of a pony.

Next door is Ride the Wild Goat, where Andrew McPherson creates his imaginative wooden items for the Sculpture Park. Just across the road is a delectable café and gallery, Long John Pickles, which serves great coffee and cake in a spacious dining area and covered verandah, surrounded by the fabulous art, sculpture and handwork creations of Claudia Rubenstein. This talented multimedia artist has been widely recognised and is said to push the boundaries of conventional artistic works, spanning the tricky divide between the conservative and the fantastical. In the sanctuary of her studio, Claudia produces demure strings of pearl and crystal alongside works that are more wearable and decorative objects.

The main street also contains The Handmakers Store, Gecko Studio Gallery and Roland Harvey Art, not to mention the terrific café and art/craft shop at Gibson’s, where you can enjoy gourmet food and coffee inside, on the rear terrace or at tables right down the back yard among delightful gardens.

Off the main street is the quirky Stefani Hilltop Gallery, where Bianca Biesuz has an impressive collection of hundreds of salt and pepper shakers, surrounded by her beautiful watercolour and oil landscape paintings. A highlight was our visit to tjukurrpa studio 46, where Indigenous artist Helen Tiernan (of the Kulin nation in what is also known as Gippsland) has a magnificent display of huge canvasses. At first sight, these appear to depict iconic West Island bush landscapes, but on closer inspection of detail they symbolise in pictures the destruction of Aboriginal lands and culture through colonisation, ravishing of bushlands, salination of rivers and numerous injustices inflicted on First Nations peoples. Helen’s work hangs in most major West Island galleries, but her comprehensive collection in Fish Creek is thought-provoking and worth the visit to the town by itself.

The next Fish Creek Tea Cosy Festival will be held in May 2026 and is a “must” if you are planning on a visit to the West Island